Ghost of a Chance
Authors: Franklin W. Dixon
HARDY BOYS
®
#169
GHOST OF A CHANCE
Danger in the Dark
“Well, I'd better get back toâ” Frank's words stopped in his throat as a high scream tore through the cool mountain air from the movie set below.
Sassy Leigh, a consultant on the film, whipped her head around. “What was that?” she asked.
“Let's find out,” Frank said as he and Sassy headed back down the trail.
As Frank ran along the edge of the forest, a peculiar smell drifted toward his nostrils. It was a sour, gamey, sweaty odor. Whew, Frank thought as the odor grew stronger.
He looked to his left, squinting his eyes to get a better view into the darkness of the forest. He could see lots of shadowy shapes in there, and some of them seemed to move.
It was the sudden rush toward him that caught him off guardâthe huge form coming from between the trees. Frank didn't have a chance. There was no warning, no time for defense.
The Hardy Boys Mystery Stories
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#107 Panic on Gull Island
#108 Fear on Wheels
#109 The Prime-Time Crime
#110 The Secret of Sigma Seven
#114 The Case of the Counterfeit Criminals
#124 Mystery with a Dangerous Beat
#133 Crime in the Kennel
#139 The Search for the Snow Leopard
#140 Slam Dunk Sabotage
#141 The Desert Thieves
#143 The Giant Rat of Sumatra
#147 Trial and Terror
#148 The Ice-Cold Case
#149 The Chase for the Mystery Twister
#150 The Crisscross Crime
#151 The Rocky Road to Revenge
#152 Danger in the Extreme
#153 Eye on Crime
#154 The Caribbean Cruise Caper
#155 The Hunt for the Four Brothers
#156 A Will to Survive
#157 The Lure of the Italian Treasure
#158 The London Deception
#159 Daredevils
#160 A Game Called Chaos
#161 Training for Trouble
#162 The End of the Trail
#163 The Spy That Never Lies
#164 Skin & Bones
#165 Crime in the Cards
#166 Past and Present Danger
#167 Trouble Times Two
#168 The Castle Conundrum
#169 Ghost of a Chance
The Hardy Boys Ghost Stories
Available from MINSTREL Books
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
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A Scream on the Mountain
A mist clung to the dense forest like blue-gray ghosts in the trees. The Monday morning sun hadn't quite cleared the Great Smoky Mountains. It was light, but still night-cool in the valley clearing high in an isolated area of eastern Tennessee.
Frank Hardy's brown eyes focused intently. About fifty yards ahead, a large black bear stood up on its hind legs. Its head rolled back and forth, and a rumbling roar filled the air.
As Frank watched, the bear stepped from side to side, and then dropped back down to all four paws. The animal started to run slowly toward Frank, then abruptly broke into a terrifying gallop.
The bear's furry legs revolved almost like wheels. The ground vibrated, and the pounding of
the paws reminded Frank of a drumroll. The animal barreled toward Frank, but Frank didn't flinch. He stood his ground.
“Easy, Gus.” Gene Posten's voice spoke up from behind Frank, who turned his head toward the man. “Slow down, boy.” Gene dropped his arm and pointed to the ground. The bear slowed and finally skidded to a stop.
“Whew,” Frank said, releasing his breath in one whoosh. His heart skipped with exhilaration.
“Good job, Gus,” Gene said. Gus dropped back to a sitting position. “You, too, Frank,” Gene added.
Gene was a tall manâFrank guessed six-fourâwith brown wavy hair. His leather jacket was the same shiny jet black as Gus's fur.
“Remember, bears have no interest in humans as meat,” Gene said, continuing his training. “They attack to defend their territory, to protect their family, or to assert their dominance.” Gene swung his arm up, and Gus leaned his head way back and made a throaty chuckling noise.
“In Gus's case, the danger is in playing. Bears like to push things for fun. In the wild, bears spend time just pushing rocks around. When Gus pushes you, you can break. So just tell him, âNo,' and sweep your arm to the right. That's his signal to stop. Now give him some treats.”
Frank tossed out a handful of fish sticks, which
Gus ate with one large, sticky lapping of his thick brown tongue.
“Too bad Jumper Herman didn't have someone around to stop the bears in their tracks,” Joe Hardy said, joining them. Seventeen-year-old Joe was a year younger than his brother, Frank. Gus rolled his head back and forth to welcome Joe. Joe shook his own head in a return greeting.
“Definitely,” Gene's cousin Lloyd Hyser answered, patting Gus's enormous shoulder. Lloyd's hair was blond like Joe's, but straight and short.
Lloyd and Gene were both in their early thirties and owned an animal rescue farm in Tennessee. They provided a care and “retirement” facility for large animals abandoned as pets or show animals.
The two men often trained and provided animal actors for safe and humane movie work. In the film industry, the men were known as animal wranglers. They were in the Smokies to provide a mountain lionâOmarâand a bearâGusâfor a major adventure feature movie,
Dropped into Danger,
based on Jumper Herman's story. Friends of the Hardys, the two wranglers had invited the boys to work on the film with them.
“So you think a bear might have had something to do with Herman's disappearance?” Gene asked Joe.
“Well, the way I understand the story,” Joe said,
“is that Jake Herman stole a huge collection of small archaeological treasures, right? Old coins, ancient gold jewelry, stuff like that.”
“Right,” Gene agreed. “He was thirty years old, and the robbery happened in Canada about twenty-five years ago.”
“Then he flew his own small plane across the border,” Frank added, remembering what he'd read in the movie script the night before, “ smuggling all the loot into the United States.”
“His plane supposedly crashed here in the Great Smoky Mountains,” Joe said, “and he was never seen again. Maybe he finally met his match with a bear.”
“But don't forget,” Frank said. “Jumper was famous for pulling off daring crimes and never being caught for any of them. In fact, he got the nickname
Jumper
because he was a daring parachutist in the army. Maybe he ditched before the crash and has been living off the loot ever since.”
“They found a few traces of his leather bag, but not the million dollars' worth of loot that was in it,” Gene pointed out. “Who knows what happened. Maybe the movie will supply some answers.”
“You guys have been here a couple of days,” Lloyd said to Frank and Joe. “How do you like the work so far?”
“Outstanding,” Joe answered. “Working with Gus and Omar is fun by itself. Working on a major movie will make it even better.”
“Then let's go to work,” Gene said. He handed each of the Hardys a worn suede bomber jacket and a wide-brimmed leather safari hat.
“Remember, you're in charge of the cooler containing food rewards,” Lloyd added. “There's a list in the barn of who gets what and a shooting schedule for each animal. While we're at the shoot, you'll follow along in the script and help us with our cues.”